563
BEDOUINS OF SINAI.
Moslems, and adopted the habits of Bedouins. Their descendants
are the present Djebalye, who unanimously confess their descent
from the Christian slaves, whence they are often called by the
other Bedouins “ the children of Christians.” They are not to
be distinguished, however, in features or manners, from other
Bedouins, and they are now considered a branch of the Towara,
although the latter still maintain the distinction, never giving
their daughters in marriage to the Djebalye, nor taking any of
theirs ; thus the Djebalye intermarry only among themselves, and
form a separate commmunity of about one hundred and twenty
armed men. They are a very robust and hardy race, and their
girls have the reputation of superior beauty over all others of
the peninsula, a circumstance which often gives rise to unhappy
attachments, and romantic love-tales, when their lovers happen to
belong to other tribes. The Djebalye still remain the servants of
the convent ; parties of three attend in it by turns, and are the only
Bedouins who are permitted to enter within the walls ; but they
are never allowed to sleep in the house, and pass the night in the
garden. They provide fire-wood, collect dried herbage for the mule
which turns the mill, bring milk, eggs, &c. and receive all the offals
of the kitchen. Some of them encamp as Bedouins in the mountains
surrounding the peaks of Moses and St. Catherine, but the greater
part are settled in the gardens belonging to the convent, in those
mountains. They engage to deliver one-half the fruit to the convent, ¬
but as these gardens produce the finest fruit in the peninsula,
they are so beset by Bedouin guests at the time of gathering, that
the convent’s share is usually consumed in hospitality.
The Djebalye have formed a strict alliance with the Korashy,
that branch of the Szowaleha which has no claims of protectorship
upon the convent, and by these means they have maintai ned from
